Orchard's Weekly Online Lending Review: Small Business Lending In Focus

The latest report dated October 21 focused on some of the most notable events which occurred during the week.

Orchard announced that it has reached an agreement with the small business lender OnDeckCapital Inc ONDK to provide standardized data and analytics to investors that participate on OnDeck's platform.

Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM introduced its own consumer lending platform to rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS's lending platform called Marcus. JPMorgan partnered with LiftFund to launch a lending platform named LiftUp which is designed to improve lending to women, minorities and veteran small business owners.

Finally, Biz2Credit said that small business loan approvals at large banks and lenders reached a historical all-time high.

Related Link: Orchard Platform's Week In Review: ABS East Conference And The Fleeting Nature Of The "Next Big Short"

The report also offered a regulatory update and noted that the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) is encouraging all of the banks in the state to explore opportunities within online lending.

Here is a summary of the some of the major indicators the report follows.

The Orchard Index, an index designed to measure the performance of direct online lending to U.S. consumers, last read 1474.59, up from 1469.83 a month ago. The index tracks the performance of the aggregate amount of loans to consumers originated and funded on U.S.-based online lending platforms.

The KBW/Nasdaq Fintech Index, an index that tracks the performance of companies that specialize in combining technology with financial products and services, last read 1016.91, up from 1034.48 a month ago. The index was just launched in July of this year.

The Liberum/AltFi Financial Disruptors Index (LAFDI) tracks companies that are considered to be disrupting banks and financial services by using new approaches. The index last read 2070.40, which is down from 2041.70 a month ago.

Below are the five stocks Orchard tracks and their recent closes.

• LendingClub Corp LC closed at $4.85 on Friday and has lost 56 percent since the start of 2016.
• On Deck Capital closed at $4.56 on Friday and has lost 55 percent since the start of 2016.
• Yirendai Ltd - ADR YRD closed at $30.27 on Friday and has gained 220 percent since the start of 2016.
• Lendingtree Inc TREE closed at $89.28 on Friday and is trading nearly flat since the start of 2016.
• Square Inc SQ closed at $11.32 on Friday and has lost 13.5 percent since the start of 2016.

Full ratings data available on Benzinga Pro.